Not Applicable.
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a jogging stroller that allows the user to move his arms and shoulders more naturally while jogging and pushing the stroller. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a jogging stroller having flexible handles.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 C.F.R. 1.97 and 1.98
Parents of babies or young children are often concerned with physical fitness and like to run or jog to maintain fitness. They also often like to take their babies or young children outdoors in a baby stroller. Many parents like to combine these two activities by pushing a stroller with the baby seated securely in the stroller while the parent jogs.
Many strollers, particularly those with four small wheels, are not stable enough to be suitable for this type of use. Therefore, several modified types of strollers have been developed to permit more comfortable and safer use as jogging strollers. A number of these designs have been patented, as discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,861, issued to Gifford on Dec. 27, 1994, discloses a No-Hands Baby Stroller comprising a three-wheeled stroller connected to the adult user by a bar 25 fastened to a belt around her waist. The bar 25 is free to move up and down as the adult user jogs. The bar 25 is like a wagon tongue that is pushed instead of pulled and is free to pivot up or down at both ends. This design prevents the user from holding the stroller and does not appear to permit safe steering of the stroller and does not allow the user to disengage from the tongue quickly in case of emergency.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,802, issued to Aitken on Apr. 30, 1996, discloses a Single Wheel baby Stroller comprising a belt around the adult user""s waist that is connected to a rigid bar having a shock absorber between two ends of the bar. A handle 33 is available for holing onto but it is not necessary to hold onto it. The belt supports the rear of the stroller. It does not appear that the connection at 53 pivots. This design does not permit the user to disengage quickly from the device in case of emergency and does not permit positive responsive steering of the stroller. Further, it does causes the stroller, and hence the baby, to bounce up and down as the user""s waist bounces up and down.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,300, issued to Nelson on Oct. 8, 1996, discloses a Jogging Stroller comprising a three-wheeled stroller having a pair of spaced parallel upwardly extending handles 40, 42 (FIGS. 1, 3) topped with rubber grips. The handles are fastened to the more-or-less horizontal frame elements by nuts and bolts at the rear of the horizontal frame members and a reinforced by mounting plates. The handles can be pivoted forward for storage, but are intended to be fixed and immovable during use (Col. 5, lines 35-48). The reciprocal motion of the handle grips does not allow the hands and arms to move from side-to-side, which is a natural motion during jogging that is required for proper balance and for reducing stress on the lower back during running.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,165, issued to Cohen et al. on Oct. 7, 1997, discloses an Exercising Device for Use with a Baby Stroller comprising a stroller having a pair of upright spaced parallel handles that pivot independently where they join the stroller""s frame. This allows the adult user to move her arms back and forth as she walks or jogs without tilting the stroller and while maintaining control of the stroller. This design is similar to Nelson ""300, discussed immediately above, in that it permits back-and-forth reciprocal motion of the user""s hands and arms, but does not permit any side-to-side movement of the hands and arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,309, issued to Archey, to Mar. 2, 1999, discloses a Jogging Exercise Stroller comprising a stroller with a pair of upwardly sloped handles extending upwardly from the stroller""s frame and ending in a horizontal cross bar. A pair of spaced parallel upwardly extending gripping handles are separately and pivotally connected to the horizontal cross bar and include a hand sling 32 at their far ends. The gripping handles are connected to a lower horizontal cross bar by shock absorbers of the fluid-valve type (like on an automobile) to dampen the up and down motions of the gripping handles, which move forward and backward as the adult user swings her arms during walking or running (FIG. 2). This design has the same deficiencies as the two references discussed immediately above, despite the addition of shock absorbers to dampen the free movement of the upwardly extending handles.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,993, issued to Bellinson on Aug. 8, 2000, discloses an Attachment for a Baby Stroller comprising a three-wheeled stroller having a horizontal cross bar at about waist height. The adult user wears a belt about her waist, which is fastened to a pair of spaced push bars at one end and to the stroller""s horizontal cross bar at the other ends (FIG. 2). This design is similar to Gifford ""861, discussed above, but has two spaced parallel tongues as opposed to the single tongue of Gifford ""861, and so suffers from the same deficiencies and problems as does Gifford ""861.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,947 B1, issued to Anderson on Mar. 6, 2001, discloses a Stroller Having an Upper Body Exercise Propulsion Mechanism comprising a pair of spaced substantially upright pivoting handles topped with rubber grips. The handles are harder to move forward than backward. The intent is to provide upper body exercise while pushing the stroller. The embodiment shown in FIG. 4 includes resistance mechanisms 28 where the upright handles are connected to a frame extension, while the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes longitudinal resistance elements 24, which are rubber bands or bungee cords (Column 3, lines 11-12). With its back-and-forth reciprocating upright handles, Anderson ""947 is similar to Nelson ""300 and Cohen et al. ""165, discussed above, and hence it suffers from the same deficiencies and problems as those two designs.
None of these designs allow for any motion approaching the natural motion of a persons"" hands and arms while jogging or running. None of these designs substantially isolate the stroller from the irregular movements of the user""s hands and arms while they are running. None of these designs offer a variety of positions and attitudes for the handles that would allow a user to adjust the handles to a position that is comfortable and safe for him.
Therefore, a need exists for a jogging stroller that permits natural motion of a person""s hands and arms while jogging or running behind the stroller while holding the stroller with one or two hands; for such a jogging stroller that isolates the stroller from the irregular movements of the user""s hands and arms while the person is running; for offering a variety of positions and attitudes for the handles that allows a user to adjust the handles to a position that is comfortable and safe for him.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a jogging stroller that permits natural motion of a person""s hands and arms while jogging or running behind the stroller while holding the stroller with one or two hands.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a jogging stroller that isolates the stroller from the irregular movements of the user""s hands and arms while the person is jogging behind the jogging stroller and holding onto the jogging stroller.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a jogging stroller that offers a variety of positions and attitudes for the handles that allows a user to adjust the handles to a position that is comfortable and safe for him.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a stroller with at least three relatively large wheels connected to a frame that carries a sling-type seating cradle that the baby is placed into. The cradle preferably includes a seat belt to secure the baby into the stroller. A conventional horizontal handle bar is connected to the frame and extends horizontally across the width of the frame a comfortable distance above the ground and is perpendicular to the longitudinal front-to-rear axis of the stroller.
A pair of handle extension members are connected to the horizontal handle bar by fittings that allow the handle extension members to be fixedly positioned anywhere along the length of the horizontal handle and to be pivoted about the axis of the horizontal handle at any desired angle. A handle is connected to each handle extension member and can be pivoted about the handle extension member at any angle in the plane of rotation of the handle. This arrangement permits adjustment of the handles into virtually any desired angle or position. Each handle is a coil spring that easily bends in the direction of the force applied to it, while offering a comfortable amount of resistance, and which immediately springs back to its original straight-line configuration when the deforming force is removed.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example, the preferred embodiment of the present invention and the best mode currently known to the inventor for carrying out his invention.